Silence book shusaku endo9/2/2023 It’s this painful, paradoxical passage – from certainty to doubt to loneliness to communion – that Endo understands so well, and renders so clearly, carefully and beautifully in ‘ Silence‘.” Questioning may lead to great loneliness, but if it coexists with faith – true faith, abiding faith – it can end in the most joyful sense of communion. “…on the face of it, believing and questioning are antithetical. There is this beautiful passage in the introduction – The book has a wonderful introduction by Martin Scorsese. I have to say that he has carried it off brilliantly and the point of view is convincing. That probably must have helped when he wrote this book from an outsider’s point of view. Endo was an outsider in his own country when he wrote this book – he was a Christian in a predominantly Buddhist country. One of them is that it is written by Shusaku Endo, who is Japanese, but the story is told from the point of view of Father Sebastian, who is Portuguese. ‘ Silence‘ is interesting and fascinating for so many different reasons. But, the book had a third ending, (Martin Scorsese says in his introduction to the book – “ his Japanese captors have a keener sense of understanding of Christianity than he realizes“), one which I didn’t anticipate, a subtle ending which makes one think and contemplate. I was hoping that the story would end in a blaze of glory like a Hollywood movie – either that Father Sebastian would convince the hostile Japanese about the glory of Jesus or he will be tortured and die, leaving the world gloriously like a martyr. The book also descibes how a religion has to change shape and evolve in interesting ways to adapt to a new culture and take into its fold new believers. It is fascinating to ponder on how a predominantly Buddhist country can also have a feudal system which differentiates clearly between the haves and have-nots and crushes people at the bottom of the social pyramid – something which is at stark variance with the beautiful, peaceful image that Buddhism has today. The book has fascinating descriptions of the Japan of the middle 17th century – the everyday life, the culture, the power structure. It was fascinating to follow Father Sebastian’s journey of faith into an alien land, the Japan of the middle 17th century. There are beautiful passages in it on the nature of faith, its beauty and profound depth, the ways it can be tested, the real troubling questions that believers can face during challenging times. The story describes the perils and challenges they face, how their faith is questioned and tested and whether they are able to overcome these challenges and pass these tests or not. Once they reach Japan, they are hidden in a village near a mountain, have to meet Christians and conduct services in secret and hide when government officials who are hunting for missionaries and Christians turn up. Father Sebastian knows the dangers awaiting him but still makes the trip alongwith two fellow priests. Father Ferreira, who was Father Sebastian’s teacher, (it is customary to use the second name with the title ‘Father’ and so it should be ‘Father Rodrigues’ here, but I like ‘Father Sebastian’ more and so that is how I am going to call him) had been there for years, but recent reports suggested that he has been arrested, tortured and forced to apostatize – deny his faith in Jesus and his Church. The situation in Japan is dangerous and is not conducive to missionaries. ‘ Silence‘ tells the story of Father Sebastian Rodrigues, a Portuguese Jesuit priest who travels to Japan to carry missionary work, during the middle of the 17th century. I have wanted to read it since and I am glad I finally got around to it. I discovered Shusaku Endo’s ‘ Silence‘ through Bellezza’s review of it.
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